


Sweat and soldering

by AxieOlotl



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alive Champions (Legend of Zelda), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Autistic Link (Legend of Zelda), Bisexual Link (Legend of Zelda), Bisexual Zelda (Legend of Zelda), F/M, Goron, Hylian - Freeform, Idk who im gonna have appear in this fic, Modern Era, Rito, Sidon (Legend of Zelda) - Freeform, Trans Link (Legend of Zelda), everyone is at LEAST bi i dont make the rules, everyone is their og race, gerudo, so it'll be updated as i go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28487910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxieOlotl/pseuds/AxieOlotl
Summary: Link and Zelda grew up together. They always promised each other they'd never leave each others side. But life has a way of pulling people apart. It also has a way of bringing them back together. With zelda busy in college on her engineering degree, and Link as a personal trainer for every intense athlete in the city, they hope to re-kindle their friendship despite how much the both of them have changed. With some faith on their side, it might even become more than that.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Short chapter to start this off! From next chapter onward they'll be loads longer

“Please- Link, tell me we’re done here? Please?” 

“Hmp.” 

“Link!” 

Alright. So. Sometimes Link forgot that most people didn’t have a natural talent at working out muscles that they didn’t know existed. It happens.  
Link muttered out an apology as he got up.His client slowly regained their strength after just having spent it all on some type of impossible stretch. Maybe Link’s assurance that it wasn’t excruciatingly hard had been.. A twisted truth at best. 

“Well, this was- Challenging!” The client laughed awkwardly, his eyes darting to the digital clock up high on the wall.  
“You can go.”  
“Oh- Thank you! See you next week!”

Link knew damn well they wouldn’t show up for another month after this workout. 

“Kid you really oughta stop driving away our clientele with your methods! Not everyone is some champion at any work out related thing, alright?” Daruk’s voice thundered from the front desk all the way to the weights section.  
“They ask for it.” Link wasn’t wrong with that statement. Every single person under Link’s wing would be assigned to him specifically because they wanted ‘brutal’ and ‘challenging’ workouts. Wasn’t his fault that they failed to see their own limits.  
“I know but with the next one-”  
“No.”  
Daruk sighed. Anyone knew that Link was quite the agreeable guy, but he took his job way too seriously.  
“Well. Good talk kid. Your next job comes in at 12:15. It’s a new one, so be on your best behaviour.”

Best behaviour obviously meant not scaring the client with Link’s generally pissed-off looking expression. Or with his lack of words. Or his extreme programmes. Or- you could go on, really. 

He looked at the clock. 12:05. Ten minutes until his next appointment. That gave him just enough time to consider keeping himself busy before he’d realize that his next client was already there.  
And that is exactly what happened. Link could notice every single detail of his surroundings, but time? That was another dimension, so could you really blame him?

“Hello I’m-” A soft voice trailed off the gym’s entrance desk. Daruk’s booming voice responded back, and told the owner of the voice that Link was over at the weights. Truthfully, he wasn’t supposed to be over at the weights. He had just stood there. Doing his thing of- forgetting time is a thing and he’s on the clock. That tended to happen. It’s fine. 

Link braced himself for impact. He both loved and hated meeting new people. He could only hope that the potential of a new client outweighed the social rules he had to endure for it. He turned around and- Her.  
“Hi, I’m Zelda Hyrule,” she spoke. Her voice distracted, her eyes checking out her environment before she finally focused her attention on Link. 

“Link?!” She shouted. It was a miracle that Link hadn’t lost his job already with how imperfect he was in most aspects aside from the actual sports. But his clients yelling for all to hear? That might be the one to do it. 

Link’s reply, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm. 

“Hey, good to see you again, Zelda.”


	2. As if 100 years had passed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How /do/ you react when you meet your childhood best friends in a gym of all places?

It was kind of hard to believe. Sure, people drift away from their childhood best friend all the time, and sometimes, they do re-meet. But to have Zelda, prodigy in everything she did Zelda, show up to the gym Link worked at of all the thousands of gyms in town?   
Faith was a cruel lady. Or a wonderful one. He wasn’t sure yet.

While Link was pondering that, Zelda freaked out at this turn of events. She had always been the more expressive of the two of them, but it appeared that she had not changed at all. Just as Link preferred it.  
“I cannot believe it-you’re - and I’m- I should have known you would end up in a career like this , you were always so /so/ invested in the athlete stuff and- “ She cut herself up abruptly. She probably knew how much of a word fountain she could be. Link didn’t mind. He never had. 

“You alright?” Link asked. He wasn’t sure if he was referring to Zelda’s avalanche of words or to her general state of being since they had last seen each other. Both were the best answer it seemed.   
“Am I- Yes! Yes, certainly I am!” She brushed some of her hairs behind her ear. That was one thing that had changed. Instead of her hair being long sun rays flowing down to her back, the sun stopped shining as soon as it hit her shoulders. It did frame her face better though. As an angel, whose halo glows brightly behind them.   
Zelda didn’t seem to mind -or perhaps better put, notice- Link’s staring. She continued explaining herself when nobody expected her to.

“-Nevertheless, I decided to be an engineering student, despite my father’s wishes to go into politics as you may remember!”   
Zelda’s father had been very insistent about that. As soon as she could speak, and had shown herself to be charismatic, her father had insisted she’d follow in his footsteps. A strange feeling of pride and happiness filled Link’s being to know that she had been able to resist his demands, and was on her way to making a path for herself. That’s the Zelda he knew. 

“Yeah, I do remember, that’s amazing Zelda.” 

“And you, this is so perfect for you, you made a sustainable career out of working out! It’s so- like you to find a solution to marry your passions with practical solutions.” Well, to be fair, Link hadn’t really thought of it this way. He had just needed a way to make money and sustain himself after dropping out of college a couple years before. It just happened to work out neatly with his skills. No need to be a great weightlifter as a grocery store re-stocker. Of course, Zelda overestimated Link’s planning abilities.

“And you ended up here because- “ Because Zelda always had aimed to improve herself and be as perfect as can be. 

“Oh just a little resolution to myself to become more fit.” There it was. “And I’ve heard lots of this establishment! Mostly that a certain trainer here isn’t for quitters. Come to think of it, I should have known that someone so persistent and passionate would be you.” She said, stretching her arms behind her back, mentally preparing herself that Link would most likely not treat her any different than his other clients. If she was truly assuming that, she’d be right.   
Besides, if one of the two was persistent, it was Zelda. You’d have to kill her before she set her mind to doing anything else other than what she wanted. It’s why they were best friends all their childhood.

Link smiled. “Well, you better get dressed then.” Link said matter-of- factly. Zelda’s face painted a picture of disappointment. Of course she wanted to talk more with her childhood best friend , especially with the circumstances they lost each other under. Link, however, didn’t notice. And if he had, he wouldn’t have acted on it. Talking to get each other up to speed right now would simply be too painful. For both him and her.   
“Euhm, Right! Give me just a minute!” And off she went.

When Zelda said a minute, it truly was a minute. Her record speed got her back to Link, now standing at the yoga matts would have been frightening, had Link not known her beforehand.   
Zelda was dressed in simple gym clothes, nothing too fancy. Her sweatpants appeared black at first, only under the proper lighting and up close could one see that they were a night-sky blue. Her tank top on the other hand was much lighter, having a baby blue tint. They both matched her eyes perfectly. She wouldn’t be needed to be told that though, Link thought.

“You know I’m not going to go easy on you, right?”

Zelda laughed, her eyes lighting up. “Never thought you would, never wanted you to.” 

************

Turns out, Zelda and Link were a perfect match. At least when it came to sports, that is. Link didn’t have to motivate her for even a second. All Zelda’s power came from a drive to do her next rep better than the last one. Even better (or worse, depending on who you ask) Link had to make her relax sometimes! The fact that they ended the session without Zelda having sprained a muscle was a blessing from hylia herself. Who knows if she would continue to smile down on them in future sessions though.

At the moment, they were sitting on a bench, isolated from the people who were still working out. Zelda took a deep breath, taking with her half of the O2 in the room. Despite her endless trials to seem different, she still had her limits.   
She took a big swing off of her heart-patterned water bottle and smiled at Link. “So,” she started before gasping for air again. “Same time, same place, next week?” Link only nodded in return.   
Truth be told, he still didn’t fully know how to act around her now. The same as before? But so much time had passed. Different? But how would he have to act then? He couldn’t ponder much more about these questions, because Zelda had more to say.

“You know, my schedule is pretty busy, but I have some time between classes this Friday, do you have many clients then?”   
Fuck, that was his day off. Meeting up with Zelda seemed like both a delight and a social nightmare. He had never lost contact with someone and then reconnected, how do you go about that? It all seemed to come so easy for her. But then again, now that she was back in his life, could he risk the chance of losing her again?   
All good questions, but no time to answer them because his head was already moving. Oh Link, you impulsive idiot. He nodded yes. 

“Great!” Zelda responded, before adding; “I’ve got time from 2-4, here-” She pulled out a card with her number on it from her gym bag. One could only guess she had a stack of those on her at all times. “Text me tonight, alright?” 

Link spoke for the first time in the entire conversation; “Of course.” 

With a bounce and a twist around, she stood up to face Link. “Delightful, I’ll talk to you then! Bye for now, Link.” His name was said with carefulness, as if she’d break it if it was said too roughly.   
‘Yeah,bye,” He spoke. Only after Zelda vanished into the changing room did he say her name, just as she had said his.

The rest of his shift went by in a sweaty blur, his mind occupied with Zelda’s honey-like voice and her sky eyes to match, instead of the decency to explain to his client how to do lunges properly.

Normally, he’d be peeved when a client cancels last minute. This time though? He could kiss the hylian that he was supposed to meet up with at 4 but ended up cancelling. Link even told Daruk no when he offered to call someone else up to take this guy’s shift. Oh no, thank you. He wanted, no, needed time to think about all the conflicting noise in his head after having seen Zelda. It was the only way to not have a meltdown.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first public fic so please leave lots of feedback! Hope you'll enjoy the ride


End file.
